After this he continues: “Their union
is the more wonderful, the more it can be shown to be based on no
substantial reason. And yet rebellion is a substantial reason, as
well as the advantages which accrue from it, and the fear of external
enemies. Such are the causes which give stability to their
faith.” To this we answer, that our union does thus rest
upon a reason, or rather not upon a reason, but upon the divine
working,
34763476θείας
ἐνεργείας. so that its
commencement was God’s teaching men, in the prophetical writings,
to expect the advent of Christ, who was to be the Saviour of
mankind. For in so far as this point is not really refuted
(although it may
seem to be by unbelievers), in the same
proportion is the doctrine commended as the doctrine of God, and Jesus
shown to be the Son of God both before and after His incarnation.
I maintain, moreover, that even after His incarnation, He is always
found by those who possess the acutest spiritual vision to be most
God-like, and to have really come down to us from God, and to have
derived His origin or subsequent development not from human wisdom, but
from the manifestation
34773477ἐπιφανείας. of God within Him,
who by His manifold wisdom and miracles established Judaism first, and
Christianity afterwards; and the assertion that rebellion, and the
advantages attending it, were the originating causes of a doctrine
which has converted and improved so many men was effectually
refuted.